97pts Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2018 Château Lagrange is a more dense, backward, serious wine, offering an unevolved yet incredibly promising bouquet of cassis, blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and violets. A big, rich, full-bodied Saint-Julien, it delivers thrilling purity of fruit, plenty of background oak, ripe, silky tannins, and a great mid-palate. This is serious stuff, but it's going to require patience. Hide bottles for 7-8 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades.
95pts Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Lagrange explodes from the glass with bombastic notes of crème de cassis, chocolate-covered cherries and baked red and black plums with suggestions of rose oil, cedar chest, pencil lead and hoisin. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has fantastic vibrancy for the ripeness, packed with juicy black fruits and compelling tension with a finely grained texture to support, finishing on a lingering mineral note. Nicely done!
94pts Wine Enthusiast
This smoky wine still shows some wood aging flavors. Structure comes from this wood aging as well as the rich blackberry-fruit tannins and concentration. The succulent Cabernet Sauvignon is ripe and full.
94pts Decanter
Beautiful reflections through the body of this wine, with fresh acidity, and an attractive sense of uplift through the palate, although the actual fruit is a little subdued right now, which as it opens shows damson and bilberry. There is real tannic frame, and build-up on the finish as you see just how concentrated these dark fruits are.
94pts Jane Anson
Black chocolate and intense blackberry and bilberry fruits, clove and black pepper spice, touches of cigar box, sage, bay leaf and pencil lead. The berries in 2018 were the smallest ever, from the northeast wind that arrived in September and took 1hl/h of yield out every day - which together with the high alcohols meant that extraction had to be carefully controlled in the cellar. Successful and enjoyable. 3.42ph, 54% first wine, 50% new oak.
93pts Wine Spectator
This has a notable tobacco and bay leaf profile out front, followed by bramble-textured, gently mulled plum and black cherry fruit.
93pts James Suckling
Extremely perfumed with currant and blackberry aromas, as well as flowers. It medium-to full-bodied with firm, creamy tannins that frame some pretty, elegant fruit for the vintage.
History
Grapes have been grown at Chateau Lagrange, St.-Julien, for over 600 years. Third Growth in the Classification of 1855, its vineyard stretches over two Gunzian gravel slopes where the highest point of Saint-Julien thrones on the beautiful estate. It was acquired in 1983 by Suntory, the family Japanese wine and spirits conglomerate, which has spared no effort or expense in extensively replanting and renovating the estate. The property is planted with 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. An uncompromising quest for excellence, such is the philosophy here. For several decades now the exceptional terroir has inspired a unique approach where precision and innovation are paramount. Today, Chateau Lagrange is under the direction of winemaker Matthieu Bordes since 2013.
